Today is November 6. The Xbox Series X and S launches on November 10* worldwide, while the PS5 launches on November 12 in six countries and November 19 for the rest of the world*.
What both Microsoft and Sony failed to mention is that outside of Singapore, if you live in Southeast Asia, you probably won’t be able to get them on the advertised launch dates.
PlayStation, What Happened To You?
2020 is hard times. A pandemic is still going on. The economy isn’t doing well globally. I get it. We’ve heard murmurings about these consoles might be getting limited stock. What we gamers in Southeast Asia are not prepared for is that we are the ones to be getting the short end of the stick.
PlayStation has a stronghold in Southeast Asia, purely for being the only of three major console makers to support the market. Sony has made special conventions (PSX SEA) and have media support in the region, whereas Microsoft and Nintendo barely make any effort here. And they’re the only one to offer regional pricing on their digital storefront for most Southeast Asia countries.
The PS5 was poised to win the console war by default in SEA, again.
Yet, here we are. Sony has no updates about the PS5 availability for Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, with two weeks to go until the advertised launch date.
Meanwhile, PlayStation Asia is going full marketing mode to celebrate the PS5 launch in the region. The celebration includes PS5 and PS5 accessory giveaways, but if your country has no details about the console launch yet- tough luck, you can only get a PS4 theme from the giveaway.
Oof.
The deafening long silence, and later the PS5 celebration stream announcement has now produced angry comments being left on Facebook over on Sony Malaysia’s and PlayStation Asia’s page (some even resorted to harassment- please don’t do that, that’s never okay) as players in Malaysia left frustrated with the lack of communication regarding the PS5 here.
But their disappointment is valid- why are we not receiving a pip of new info regarding the launch? We can pre-order PS5 games now on the PlayStation Store, but we still have no idea when to expect the console itself to actually arrive in our countries.
Xbox, This Was Your Time To Shine!
The worst part is, PlayStation’s miss could have been an outstanding move for Microsoft to swoop into the rest of Southeast Asia. But as always, they remain only focused on Singapore.
Despite a Malaysian outlet (the folks at Kakuchopurei) receiving early Xbox Series X and S consoles for coverage, Microsoft Malaysia confirms they won’t be bringing official support in the country.
It is such a missed opportunity in hindsight. There was a chance for Xbox to just show up early for this generation and suddenly catch PlayStation napping. But they refused to make any movement in SEA.
(To their credit, there are attempts in getting back in Japan as well as entering South Korea these few years, so it’s not like they are not paying attention to Asia at all.)
It’s frustrating because what Xbox offers- especially Xbox Game Pass- is something that folks here will find tremendous value. We are subscribing to Netflix and Spotify, and we see buying games on their own are bloody expensive. Don’t you see this, Microsoft? You have an opportunity here to make it big!
Left In The Dark
SEA gamers are left in the limbo. They are enough of us here that are excited for the next generation of consoles. But Sony and Microsoft are showing that we are not big enough for them- or small enough to de-prioritise in favour of bigger markets.
I get it, over here it’s mobile gaming that’s the big hotness. Almost everyone is playing a free MOBA rather than shelling out thousands of ringgit for a new console (and hundreds more ringgit for games- which are getting more expensive next-gen, by the way). Console gamers are the minority here. But that shouldn’t excuse the lack of communication when they are folks here willing to pay you good money for a product.
Sony, at least let us know to stop expecting it on launch day if stocks are so limited. Don’t leave us here in the dark for so long like we don’t matter. Personally, I rather be disappointed with a localised delay rather than be fooled into thinking it’s coming out on time and join the hype- only to find out later that it’s not.
On the other side, Microsoft is disappointing as always, but they missed a very golden opportunity to carve a big chunk of the SEA market. At least for the handful of hardcore Xbox fans here, they’ve expected this anyway and likely already planned to get their import sets anyway.
I don’t share the anger some netizens decide to show as a result of this- remember, being pissy about it will never solve anything. However, I do share their frustration and disappointment for being left out in the dark.
It’s hard to be excited for the PS5 and Xbox Series if you’re in Southeast Asia (unless you’re in Singapore) when you don’t even know when, or even if, you can actually buy them. Next-gen starts next week? More like next year for us here.